.The Ibori Assets

Comfort Obi

Former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, is in trouble. Until now, not a few Nigerians, especially Deltans had asked: What makes Ibori thick? The question stemmed from the fact that since the clampdown on some ex-governors by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibori had remained untouched. Yet, long before the clampdown, many Deltans felt that if any ex-governor was going to come under the EFCC hammer immediately after May 29, then, Ibori is it. But it didn’t work that way. Instead, Ibori gradually, but successfully became, how do I put it, a power broker.
It didn’t start with the President Umaru Yar’Adua regime. Not known to be a fan of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for most of the eight years he ruled, Ibori surprisingly became an Obasanjo favourite about two months to his exit from office. Indeed, the relationship became so chummy that it was loudly said Ibori may become Yar’Adua’s running mate. Eighteen months before that time, a couple of his aides had dropped the hint in a few media houses that their boss was going to be former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s running mate and “would surely became the "Number two man.” That the story changed within 18 months, from being a possible Atiku running mate, to a possible Yar’Adua running mate tells the story of the political chess master he had become.
He lost. But his invisibility seemed assured. Not a few people attribute it to the allegation that he invested too much money on Yar’Adua’s election. Nigeria is a rumour mill. So, even though I cannot confirm any of the allegations, the fact remains that Ibori has a way of surviving.
He had been surviving since the late General Sani Abacha years as Head of State. He was, allegedly, Abacha’s unofficial external affairs aide. Before then, he was a nobody. That connection propelled him to the governorship seat of Delta State. No scandal could remove him. Not even the allegation that he is an ex-convict. But now, the chicken seems to be coming home to roost. Ibori is making front page news negatively. And here is the reason.
A London court, the Southwalk Crown Court, penultimate week, handed down an order freezing Ibori’s assets in London. The frozen assets include real estate, cash – and you better believe this – a newly acquired aircraft which is still with the Canadian manufacturers. The aircraft alone, it is alleged, costs about 20 million US dollars. The total value of the assets frozen is about £25 million. Investigations are continuing. The need to freeze his assets in the United Kingdom is a result of an application made by the London Metropolitan Police. After weeks of investigations, the Metropolitan Police felt his wealth could not be reconciled with Ibori's legitimate earnings.
Expectedly, Ibori and his aides are up in arms. And that is the most annoying part of it. They are not denying the order, or that the frozen assets do not belong to Ibori, they are playing with words. Take Ibori. He is quarreling with the word frozen. He says that the order the court gave is a restraining order. He said that the British court granted only a restraining order on him from interacting with the assets. He further said that even though the Metropolitan Police had been trying, in the past 13 to 14 months, to freeze the assets, what it got was simply a two-month restraining order on him from interacting with the assets while the investigation is on. So we clap. Ah, it is nothing! It is a small matter.
Na lie. If Ibori does not go on his knees and pray like never before, he could be in deep s..t. And that is putting it mildly. Freezing of his assets, or restraining him from interacting with his assets? What is the difference? Is there any difference between a dozen and 12?
If you are restrained from interacting with your assets, the interpretation is that it is frozen. There is no grammar there. There is no confusion. Indeed, Ibori’s explanation is annoying. One expected him to give a more intelligent explanation. £25 million pounds? How did he come about this? What was he doing before he became a governor? What was he worth then? And what did he declare at the Code of Conduct Bureau, even though we hear that some people do anticipatory declarations? What is he doing with an aircraft worth about $20million? That is the Nigerian rich man. At a point in their lives, it becomes insulting to board a commercial airline. And we are talking about his assets in the United Kingdom only.
Yet, his aides see no wrong. In fairness to them, they are giving a more intelligent explanation than their boss. One of them, who media houses prefer to call “official source”, tells us that there is no direct link between the acquisition of the property and his (Ibori’s) tenure in Delta State as governor. My answer: Shuo! Another aide explained: “All the assets in question were acquired through private businesses. Ibori was a businessman before he went into politics and his business did not stop running while he was in government,” Ibori, he said, set up MER Engineering over 10 years ago and the company does business with major oil companies in Nigeria. As for the aircraft, the aide says it belongs to Wings Aviaiton, a private charter company. Ha-ha.
So we believe them. But questions arise: Was Ibori free to run his private business while in office? So, he set up MER Engineering about 10 years ago? By my calculation, that seems during the Abacha years when he was, allegedly, an unofficial external affairs aide. His aide says MER Engineering does business with oil companies in Nigeria. Shell. Chevron. Good. But why was he investing the money abroad instead of in Nigeria? Whatever happened to patriotism? So, the aircraft belongs to Wings? Why would the Metropolitan Police link Ibori to it? If it is true, that’s an expensive mistake, for which Ibori should be encouraged to sue them for everything they’ve got.
But back to the main issues. Was Ibori entitled to those assets? How did he acquire them? Did he have them before he became governor in 1999? These are the real issues at stake.